posted at 4:41 pm on September 5, 2012 by Erika Johnsen

After this morning’s news that the Democrats are now planning to move Obama’s convention speech from the outdoor, 70,000-capacity Bank of America football stadium to the indoor, 20,000-capacity Time Warner basketball arena because of ostensible weather concerns (meaning, the 30 percent chance of thunderstorms on the forecast practically every night in the summer for the mid-eastern seaboard), there’s been no shortage of mockery from the Right for the Democrats’ retreat from much-heralded enthusiasm to defensive sheepishness. The campaigns have been trading barbs, and the Romney camp’s resident ‘honey badger’ John Sununu pointed out that this is yet another Obama promise gone awry:

“You can’t believe a thing this administration says,” Sununu told reporters at the NASCAR Hall of Fame. “This campaign promised you, rain or shine, the president would be speaking there. Then when they couldn’t get a crowd they brought it inside. I think those facts speak for themselves.” …

“You would think they’d be smart enough to lie about things that weren’t easy to check,” he said. “Almost all the speakers last night accused Romney of wanted to raise taxes on the middle class. There is a very simple declarative sentence that is Gov. Romney’s position on the middle class: ‘We are going to cut their taxes by 20 percent.’ That is not a complicated sentence. It might be for Barack Obama, but that is not a complicated sentence.”

The Obama campaign is facing a barrage of criticism and mockery from Republicans for scrapping plans to hold the final night of their convention at downtown Charlotte’s more than 73,000-seat Bank of America Stadium. But they’ve got a message for their detractors.

The official was referring to Mitt Romney’s February 2012 speech before a crowd of 1,200 at Detroit’s Ford Field — a stadium that seats up to 80,000. Democrats on Wednesday circulated a now-famous photo of Romney speaking in the almost-empty venue with the tongue-in-cheek headline: “Mitt Romney’s idea of a successful stadium event….”

Feeble, Team O. Nobody’s made a bigger deal out of Barack Obama’s ostensible abilities to fill a stadium then you guys, and let’s be serious: The lack of enthusiasm that previously committed Obama-voters are feeling right now is a huge problem for their side. If there had been a real opportunity for the Democrats to showcase a football stadium chock-full of wildly supportive Obama fanatics, I doubt even a dang monsoon would’ve stopped them from doing so.

Update: Oh, this just keeps on getting more and more humiliating. I almost feel a little badly for piling on. …Almost. Via BuzzFeed:

Breaking on Hot Air

Blowback

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My how things have changed in 4 years. 100 percent chance of double facepalm for Team Barry. Can’t fill a stadium. Tsk tsk.

Didn’t you fill Invesco Field when you accepted the nom 4 years ago? When did stifling heat or rain ever stop your swooning, adoring, fainting minions? I guess it does now. They can stay home and watch an empty chair for free. Perhaps the busloads you were expecting wanted to be compensated for their efforts. Too bad you burned through your campaign cash, Barry. No busing around money.

… about as mind-numbing as The Commie trying to school us about freedom, independence and initiative.

OhEssYouCowboys on September 5, 2012 at 5:17 PM

——

More mind-numbing: you calling someone a commie while having no clue what it means.

Dave Rywall on September 5, 2012 at 5:19 PM

Oh, I think he as a pretty good idea, unlike you, bless your heart.

“I think when you spread the wealth around, it helps everybody”
“You didn’t build that”
“We belong to the government” — Not him, but at his convention by his party

No, he’s pretty much on target there. Might be closer to fascist given the approach to business, what with the GM auto bailout, although that was structured to benefit the unions (again, more communist than fascist), but the cronyism with GE’s Immelt, Solyndra, SpectraWatt, Evergreen Solar, and Tesla to name a few.

“A chance of showers and thunderstorms, mainly before 9pm. Partly cloudy, with a low around 70. Southwest wind around 6 mph becoming calm in the evening. Chance of precipitation is 30%. New rainfall amounts of less than a tenth of an inch, except higher amounts possible in thunderstorms”

Sounds like a typical run of the evening forecast for the southeast/southern seaboard for this time of year. Forecast discussion reduces to “isolated” after 9pm and that is not clear in the zone statement ( above ). Nothing gets cancelled in the south for a forecast that looks like that, football, baseball, golf, air shows.. I mean nothing with the exception of this.

I’ve been to dozens of Panther games and having a thunderstorm roll through is hardly rare. BOA stadium is designed with that possibility in mind and there is plenty of room to get out of harms way. As long as you don’t mind standing near a Bank of America ATM machine.

I see you have no experience in running outdoor events. Or understanding weather.

That’s okay.

Dave Rywall on September 5, 2012 at 5:09 PM

Ooh! Ooh! I want to play!

Does that mean other outdoor venues cancel their activities whenever there is a 30% chance of rain? Can you name just one that has ever done so? Just one? You have the entire internet at your disposal, that should be a piece of cake. Find me one example.

I just looked up “probability of precipitation” and learned that a 10% chance of rain is the probability rain will fall over a spot in a 12 hour period, so the chance of rain during Obama’s speech is roughly 10/12% or 0.83%.

The letter, among several obtained by The Nation and The Investigative Fund through a Freedom of Information Act request, is a stark reminder that even the most ardent opponents of Obamacare privately acknowledge many of the law’s benefits.

Maybe Sunono can explain this..

HotAirLib on September 5, 2012 at 5:18 PM

You stupid Democrats denigrate Sununu at your own peril.

The man was born in Havana to a Palestinian father and a mother from El Salvador. He’s also smarter that 99% of the members of MENSA, and much smarter than O’bamna (or you) can ever hope to be.

FTA:”
Call it “The Empty Chair Convention.”
Rick Klein, Senior Washington Editor of ABC News, just tweeted out this photo of the stage the Democrat convention will be held on (posted above).

As you can see, Klein’s photo reveals the screens that will serve as the television backdrop behind whomever’s speaking — and it looks to me as though the Democrats intend to show an artificial sea of faces in order to make the convention hall look a whole lot fuller than it might be. ”

I posted on the first headline thread they would try CGI. Heh. Watch for it!

So, for the 50k or so people who were supposed to get seats, who went to Charlotte, spent a lot of money and time… who gets to decide who gets cut from showing up? I mean, really, going from 70k to 20k seats means 50k are not getting in. Is it going to be reaching into a big old barrel and seeing if you are a lucky winner?

And just what do you do with all the people who paid good money, took a plane flight, got hotel rooms, and all that fun stuff on the promise of a seat and now are told: you’re out of luck?

Where is the outrage from these people who were going to pack the stadium? The marches? The screaming into cameras about the hundreds of bucks they spent to get screwed over by the DNC making a Stuck On Stupid choice in the first place? Everyone knew it was going to be outdoors, you know… prepared for it… except the DNC.

The letter, among several obtained by The Nation and The Investigative Fund through a Freedom of Information Act request, is a stark reminder that even the most ardent opponents of Obamacare privately acknowledge many of the law’s benefits.

I love this Sununu guy. He, without help, completely destroyed soledad on CNN that one time. Meanwhile she is caught trying to respond by openly reading TPM on air. Meanwhile her people behind the camera were frantically doing oppo research to attack him for his being correct. Classic beatdown. Good job Gov.

Last night, your Toronto Bleu Jays hosted the Baltimore Orioles, who later won the game while the Yankees were losing. New York has now blown a 10 game lead in the American League East, and Baltimore is now tied with them for first place with Tampa Bay only a game and a half back.

Even though last night’s weather forecast for Toronto showed a comparable chance of rain due to the remains of Isaac, Blue Jays management left the SkyDome roof open.

Gutsy call. I’m voting straight Donk ticket now. Not only will they provide cradle to grave care for every living human being, they’ll protect us from a statistical 30 percent chance of rain weather prediction.

And frankly, you can’t believe a thing that the RNC says either. As a Delegate to the Republican National Convention, I can personally attest to the fraud, lies, and rule breaking that occurred in the floor votes, and the Credentials and Rules Committee meetings.

As much as I despise Obama, I equally despise the dirty garbage that goes on in our party. Wake up people. We need to clean house everywhere!

It’s difficult to forget the articles I read last week (maybe going back to the week before that) where Dems were giving away tickets in bars and buses were being gassed up to go get church members and college kids from South Carolina.

And why didn’t the DNC planners think about this last year? Did Al Gore tell them there’d be absolutely no chance of rain the first week of August in NC? None of this makes sense, except when put in the context of the book, “The Amateur”